The Thing About Crossroads
by NightmareBottle
Summary: The one time Crowley decides to hang around a crossroads while he reminisces about how far he's come, some higher power decides he doesn't get a break. One-shot(for now). Image belongs to Eric Vernier(flickr) and is used under a CC license share-alike & attribution.


_A/N: This is a result of me deciding that there isn't enough fanfic for Crowley and that there aren't enough powerful female characters in Supernatural. Crowley isn't mine but he doesn't appear to belong exclusively to the Supernatural universe either. Supernatural isn't mine of course. If it was, you'd be seeing the show from more perspectives. Enjoy!_

**~Stranger, Meet Stranger~**

It was unusual for him to be lurking around the crossroads with his position and all but there were just some deals he had a hard time resisting. He had a particular taste for those deals that would in turn net him more souls. It was the reason he'd climbed the ranks so quickly. His colleagues tended to be a bit shortsighted. With their humanity went that ambition. Even the terrible flaws of humanity had been twisted into madness in most of them. Humans are adaptive creatures though and sometimes you end up with something that wasn't quite demon. Sometimes, you end up with something like Crowley.

He couldn't leave. With a groan, he looked down. The dry dust below betrayed nothing. He dug into it with the toe of his shoe. Underneath the dust was more dust. He arched an eyebrow. That was new.

"Hello. Would you be Crowley?" someone said, a woman.

Crowley turned his head towards the sound. Chilled air and moonlight on a dusty road was what he saw. No woman and no footprints. He hadn't needed to turn in order to know that he wouldn't see anything. He couldn't sense anyone there or anywhere near. The only person on the road was driving away into a decade of heaven on earth followed by a few centuries in hell. Worth it? Crowley thought so. He did end up with an immortality of sorts, after all. He might have expected someone to be standing there when he turned back around but he didn't look surprised to find the road still empty in that direction.

"It's a bit late to be going mad," he mocked himself.

"I'm sure that man you're wearing felt the same way about you," the voice whispered in his ear.

"Is that a threat? Not very frightening. I have no body to posses you see though I'm quite fond of this suit," it wasn't clear whether he meant the man or his clothing.

She laughed and placed her hand on his shoulder. His head turned slowly and if she hadn't felt the flesh beneath her hand tense she might have believed that he'd known she was there the entire time.

"I'm here to make a deal," she reassured.

His shoulder relaxed beneath her hand and the predator's grin was back on his face. She stepped around him until her hand rested on his chest.

"So, what can you do for me Mr. Crowley?" she said as she met his gaze.

Crowley's grin almost faltered at the same moment that he decided that he didn't like hers at all. If he'd been able to, he would have gotten himself back to hell before things got nasty. He didn't want to know what something that had the power to hold him there wanted with him, not if it was on her terms. Playing along was probably the wisest course of action given the circumstances, so he did. He could talk himself out of anything right? He deliberately avoided thinking about the deal that got him his job in the first place. It'd been ages. Didn't his centuries as a crossroads demon count for something?

"What do you want love? Money, power, fame, revenge?" he couldn't see how she couldn't get any of that herself. Still, he thought insinuating that she couldn't get a man might land him some unpleasant consequences so he left that one out. He wasn't fond of not knowing what the customer wanted.

"Perhaps we should be discussing what I can do for you?" she said with a frown.

"Standard contract says your soul." He didn't know why he bothered. Surely she already knew that. Maybe not. She'd found him, not summoned him.

"Oh honey, my soul's worth more than that. Soul's all I got," she said.

"Then we're done here, I'm afraid," he said. He could only hope she'd lose interest. It wasn't like he could leave! Well, he could walk but he might not make it very far.

"You sure about that? I haven't even introduced myself," she said and much later he'd shudder at how much she sounded like Meg right then. All that was missing was an irritating endearment.

He paused for a moment. His retort's dead weight festered on his tongue. He licked his lips. Her eyes traced the motion. Perhaps he deliberated too long because she pulled away and started to walk away.

"What do you want?" he snapped. Damn, he could have walked away from it all. Her smile was gone when she turned back around his way.

"Not what I have to offer? Only an indefinite contract. I need a sort of 'visa' if you're inclined to call it that to stick around this lovely world you frequent," she said.

"What do I get? I'm guessing that soul's off the table," he said with a look that may have once made her feel like dinner. In another life, she may have been tempted to give more than he bargained for but she wasn't there to teach anyone any lessons. Instead, she gave him a wicked grin. He liked that one even less than the first one.

"You meet someone who claims to have traveled between worlds and you can't imagine how you might make use of that? I need a perpetual contract so how would you like someone at your beck and call until time unwinds itself?" she offered.

"It can't be that easy," he shrugged, "even if you are what you say your are."

"I haven't said what I am," she replied.

"If I accept?" he asks. She said nothing about his proving.

"Come here and find out," she said but he doesn't move from where he's standing.

"I write the contract," even he can't tell if it's a statement or a question.

"Not that kind of contract. It wouldn't stick. Not to me, anyways," she winked at him. It could have been but she couldn't resist making things more interesting. It's her turn to ignore everything that's telling her she's making a mistake she's made before.

"Do we have a deal?" she said before he could hesitate, "We'll be on even footing, I assure you."

"And I'm supposed to just take your word for it?" he said.

"Oh, fine, write your contract," she said with a pout. She could always hop right out of his jurisdiction but hey, what he doesn't know...

She didn't know why his skill with his tongue surprised her, he wasn't some newly minted crossroads demon. She thought about hopping back a few minutes to live it again. She sighed into the kiss, knowing she lacked the power to pull that trick in that world at that moment. She was lucky to be there at all. He pulls away. She grabs his tie and pulls him back. She started slow, wanting to enjoy what she'd missed by thinking but he'd rather go for a rougher approach. His teeth scraped against her tongue. She shuddered and realized that she wasn't at all in control of things anymore. His grip held her firmly against the body he wore. Adrenaline surged inside her and made pain pool inside her head. All the sensations were too much in an instant. Her insides clenched and she gasped against his mouth. She could feel his grin against her lips.

"That's a new one," he whispered in her ear.

She laughed from across the dirt intersection. He must have felt it, that tug as she used his power to move. She tossed him something that catches the moonlight. He thought it a glass marble as he caught it but when he opened his hand to look at it, he found a band of some white metal. He held it up to the light. Might be platinum. He looked up to find her gone. He couldn't even feel her. He would have felt cheated but he wasn't sure he'd lost anything. He slipped the ring into a pocked. He certainly wasn't stupid enough to put something like that on.


End file.
